After endorsing everything from food items to pain relievers and car batteries, can boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny" Pacquiao work his magic to gain support for the government’s poverty reduction programs – including the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program? Pacquiao has agreed to at least try his hand at endorsing the government’s core poverty reduction programs, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said. The DSWD said it and Pacquiao’s office will soon forge an agreement for the partnership, the agency said in a news release on its website late Monday. Among the core anti-poverty programs Pacquiao is expected to endorse are:
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (CCT) program; Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS); and Sustainable Livelihood. The CCT has gained controversy after critics of the administration branded it a dole-out program. But DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said on government-run TV last week that the CCT is not a dole-out as each beneficiary has corresponding obligations such as attending to pre-natal seminars, complete attendance of their children in school and seeking job opportunities or having small livelihood business. According to the DSWD, Pacquiao held a consultative meeting with various government agencies’ regional directors. During the meeting, DSWD Field Office 12 head Gemma Rivera cited Pacquiao’s "influential role in transforming the lives and the hope that he radiates to poor families." She added Pacquiao is a symbol of how the Filipino struggles to rise above poverty. Pacquiao, a symbol of unity for Filipinos, had repeatedly expressed his desire to help poor Filipinos. He said this prompted him to run for congressman – unsuccessfully at first in 2007, then successfully in 2010. — RSJ, GMA News 
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